GCMS

INTRO

Grade Control Management System (GCMS®) is a system based on RFID technology which tracks material before and after the blasting of a block on a mine.

Grade Control is used within the mining process to quality check and control the grade and variability of an ore. The purpose of grade control is for a mine to understand any variabilities in their sampling and ore reserves. The mine plant process is most efficient at a particular grade. With high grade material, some of the ore could filter out with the tailings and need to be blended with low grade material for more efficient separation. Tracking the grade eliminates the risk of ore reaching the wrong destination, i.e. ore to waste dump and waste to plant, ultimately affecting revenue. Ore tracking is made possible with the use of two different softwares: GCMS® (Grade Control Management System) & BMM (Blast Movement Monitoring) and hardware such as tags & readers.

GCMS® consists of both hardware and software components. The hardware components are responsible for identifying and capturing data, while the software components of the system are responsible for managing the data transmitted between the tag and the reader and between the reader and the host system.

GCMS BENEFITS

Reduced Ore to Waste

Reduced Waste to Ore

Improved yield

Reduced lost production

Enhanced asset utilisation

Improved procedural compliance I

Reduced penalties

WHY USE OUR SYSTEM?

Management Information

A Process is essentially a series of operations, which are interconnected, with the performance of one operation affecting the performance of another. Optimising each stage separately without considering the whole system often causes potential economic benefits and savings to be missed. It is crucial for information sharing to occur across operations to ensure access to real time information.

Sample Tracking

Because of the frequency of incidents of lost, misidentified or unidentified samples as well as the quantum of lost time associated with manually tracking and tracing the requisite samples, the capacity of the Geology function is unable to match that of the Mining function resulting in periods of “Blind mining”.

Blast Movement

Controlling ore loss and dilution is critical for most mining operations. Getting it wrong can result
in millions of dollars per year of lost revenue.

Ore Tracking

Two of the most important issues mines have to deal with are tracking the ore mined from pit to plant and to test the efficiency of beneficiation equipment. A key issue is that of waste being transported to the crusher and ore being transported to waste. There are various reasons for this ranging from the loss of or incorrect assignment of survey data, to the shifting of the block during blasting, to errors on the part of dispatchers and shovel operators, and being unable to identify the ore grade during hauling and ore transfer

HOW IT WORKS?

GCMS® consists of both hardware and software components. The hardware components are responsible for identifying and capturing data, while the software components of the system are responsible for managing the data transmitted between the tag and the reader and between the reader and the host system.

RFID Institute has developed an ore tracking solution for Kumba Reasources based on RFID technology. It tracks material before and after the blast. Blast Movement Technologies (BMT) has developed hardware and software - Blast Movement Monitoring (BMM®) System - for measuring movement of the ore during the blast. The combination of these two systems has the potential to optimise ore control through the entire mining cycle.

GCMS® HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FOR USE IN:

Geology: Sample tagging (Exploration)

Mining: Sample tracking (Grade Control)

Drill Instruction

Ore Tracking

Process: Ore management

Ore Transfer

Controlling ore loss and dilution is critical for most mining operations. Getting it wrong can result in tens of millions of dollars per year of lost revenue. Case studies have shown that by accounting for blast movement, there is a potential to increase mineral output by as much as 25% for individual blasts for only a modest cost of a few cents per tonne.

Solution

In order to drive productivity through innovation by linking resource and downstream processing, RFID Institute has developed the GCMS® System based on RFID technology which tracks material before and after the blast. Blast Movement Technologies (BMT) has developed hardware and software - Blast Movement Monitoring (BMM®) System – for measuring movement of the ore during the blast. The combination of these two systems results in increased knowledge of ore body characteristics and behaviour having the potential to efficiently manage ore and optimise the entire mining cycle.

Blast Movement Monitoring

Controlling ore loss and dilution during blasting is critical for most mining operations. Getting it wrong can result in millions of dollars per year of lost revenue.

1.Holes are planned, requested and drilled by mining.

2.A number of BMMs are then installed in dedicated blast holes within the blast and surveyed. The Activator is a remote control that switches each transmitter on and programs it as required.

3.A special detector is used to locate the BMMs after the blast and calculate their depths. BMM X, Y, Z co-ordinates are surveyed.

4.Included software calculates the 3-dimensional movement vector of each BMM. The data is sent to the GCMS® database for future reference.

5.Ore boundaries or digging levels can then be redefined within 1-2 hours of the blast to reflect the measured movement, and hence reduce ore loss and dilution. The post blast dig lines are then made available and displayed in the GCMS® System.

Sample Tracking

Because of the frequency of incidents of lost, misidentified or unidentified samples as well as the quantum of lost time associated with manually tracking and tracing the requisite samples, the capacity of the Geology function is unable to match that of the Mining function resulting in periods of “Blind mining”.

The block sample list is interfaced to the GCMS® to create a batch inventory of all samples per hole per block.

RFID enabled sample bag labels are now printed using a RFID printer. Each label has a unique electronic ID which is married to each sample ID with block, row, hole and depth of each sample being visually printed as well.

Upon receiving the samples at the sample prep lab the tagged samples are automatically read by the RFID Door Portal Reader and verified as received against the block sample inventory list.

A real time sample received audit is visually displayed and alerts generated if samples are not received within the specified 24 hour period.

A detailed outstanding sample report is generated per hole / depth

Ore Tracking

Two of the most important issues mines have to deal with are tracking the ore mined from pit to plant and to test the efficiency of beneficiation equipment. A key issue is that of waste being transported to the crusher and ore being transported to waste. There are various reasons for this ranging from the loss of or incorrect assignment of survey data, to the shifting of the block during blasting, to errors by dispatchers and shovel operators, and being unable to identify the ore grade during hauling and ore transfer.